This could also be done with the decorative leaved sweet potato varieties, some of which also flower. They look very much like these too in many cases. For them warmth is a key, though; my 55-65 degree kitchen is not warm enough for the cuttings I took last autumn. It worked for my phal orchid and African violet plants, and it has carried my cured onion and garlic bulbs and sweet potato roots very well, but not the sp cuttings. Standard sweet potatoes can also be overwintered as decorative vining plants, but they do not do well if chilled.

I just love MG - I had them in my small condo garden in Ohio and they were just so lush and beautiful! I loved the way they would climb overtop the fence and peek out on the outside - it was sortof naughty. The condo assc had a rule about things growing over the fences and one day the grounds crew cropped off the naughty parts - LOL. [IMG]http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b50/CindyBertinetti/0808090834a.jpg[/IMG]

I've heard that some people consider Mornig Glories invasive weeds. The rest of us cherish them! I harvested some seeds from an open lot where NO ONE was watering or fertilizing and the MG's were blooming profusely. (It is VERY HOT AND DRY here). I wouldn't recommend fertilizing. I've also heard that Moon Flowers need a bit more water than MG's. Hopefully someone can answer from experiene. Kimberly

I gotta chime in here. Im a HUGE MG/ MF fan, and have grown them for about 5 years now out of those big green (maybe 12" long by 8"W by 10" deep containers.) As jenny can probably attest from photos,( and HEY Jenny! great to "see" you again) my MG's and MF's got about 25' or so, from the above mentioned conatinaers, with about 3-5 plants per container. With good soil, and good sunlight, they will GROW and GROW and GROW. MGs and MFs dont "LIKE" poor soil, however they will produce more booms, much earlier in poor soil. When there is an abundance of nutriants available for the plant to grow, it will do just that FIRST, GROW. Thus producing blooms later in the season. You will end up with very LARGE leaves on very LARGE vines until about July, t hen you will start producing blooms. In Poor soil, the vines can be somewhat "spindly" or small, and the leaves will be smaller as well, however you will produce more flowers, earlier. It all depends on why you are growing them. If its ONLY for flowers, grow in poor soil with little nutriants, and youll get lots of blooms on fairly young plants. If it is for foliage ( and blooms) grow them in good, nutriant rich soil, and feed them miracle grow once a month, and youll have HUGE plants with HUGE leaves ( for privacy) that will stay that way most of the year. BUT, they wont start really producing massive blooms until half way thru july. SO you see, you are largely in control of the types of vines you get, and the amount/ timing of the blooms you get. rest assured though, that in the end ( late summer into sept) you will get massive amounts of flowers on both vines irregardless of the poor or nutriant rich soils you choose to use. Hope that helps! NPG